Monster Mash: Metropolitan Museum of Art sees attendance surge; big changes for London’s Saatchi Gallery

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-- Big crowds: The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York said attendance passed the 5-million mark in the last fiscal year -- its highest attendance since 2001. The Museum of Modern art reported earlier this week that it also saw attendance surge in the latest fiscal year. (Associated Press)

-- Planning ahead: Charles Saatchi plans to hand over his London gallery to the U.K. when he retires, renaming it MOCA London (Museum of Contemporary Art, London). (The Guardian)

-- Voicing displeasure: Placido Domingo offers some criticism of theater directors who work in the world of opera. (MusicalAmerica.com, via Washington Post)-- All-seeing: Chicago reacts to its latest large-scale public artwork, a sculpture of an eyeball by artist Tony Tasset. (Chicago Tribune)

-- Royal pain: Prince Charles finds himself in the middle of a highly public architectural debate. (The Guardian)

-- Celebrity sighting: Lady Gaga visits the MIT Museum in Cambridge, Mass., to view a Polaroid exhibition. (Boston Globe)

-- Phased out: Composer Edward Elgar is being kicked off the 20-pound note in the U.K. in favor of Adam Smith. (BBC News)

-- Honored: The Ulster Museum in Northern Ireland has won the Art Fund prize, one of the biggest art awards in the U.K. (The Guardian)

-- Passing: The New York graffiti artist known as Rammellzee has died at age 49 after a long illness. (New York Times)

-- And in the L.A. Times: the Autry National Center is to create Native American galleries in Griffith Park and an annex in Burbank; reporter Hector Tobar is inspired at the Huntington to remember the Edendale neighborhood of L.A.
-- David Ng